When the apostle Paul preached to the intellectual Gentiles in Athens, he used a completely different approach from his usual method of preaching to the Jews. In this message we explore his approach and how he gave them eight great truths about God.
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Paul’s Sermon on Mars Hill
Acts 17:16-34
We left Paul alone at Athens last week. He had previously planted churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea, and had been run out of town in the last 2 cities. He has left Luke in Philippi to help the fledgling new church, and he left Timothy & Silas in Berea to help the believers there. Paul finds himself in this great city of Athens alone, hated, hunted, and pursued. He’s on the run. There are people in every city he has been in that want him dead. I imagine Paul would have liked to just get a breather, just lay low and recoup for a few days. But, as always that’s not the way it turned out.
Before we get into our text I need to give you some background on the great city of Athens. It was the home of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus and Zeno. Athens was the Intellectual, Political, Architectural, and Religious Center of the World.
Intellectual: it was the world leader in Mathematics, Astronomy, Science and Philosophy. Philosophy was virtually a Greek invention – Plato and Aristotle have dominated Western thought for the last 2,400 years. Athens was known as the University of the World.
Political: The Greeks pioneered the way in political science, originating the concepts of law, democracy, and parliament.
Architectural: Athens was the home of the Parthenon, built in 447-432 B.C. and still considered to be one of the greatest architectural masterpieces of human history. It is situated on the Acropolis, a flat topped rock that rises 490 feet above sea level, and comprises 7.5 acres of land. It must have been absolutely breathtaking in its day! Athens was home to some of the most amazing and beautiful buildings, statues, and temples in the world.
Religious: It had become a saying that it was easier to find a god on the main street of Athens than a man! Everywhere you looked there were altars, temples, shrines and statues of various Greek gods – over 3,000 of them! There were idols and images devoted to stars and constellations, powers of the underworld, and vices and virtues of men. If a Greek wanted to get drunk he turned to Dionysius; if he wanted to indulge his lust he turned to Aphrodite; if he wanted to steal he looked to Hermes; if he loved violence and savagery and was into a Clint Eastwood “Make My Day” mentality, Zeus was his god. The Greeks’ gods had no morals. How could the worshipers of these gods have any morality?
Athens was the epitome of what man could achieve by his own brilliance and still be ignorant of God. Philosophy and religion had not enabled the Greeks to know God. This was the city that Paul now found himself in. How would he preach to these people?
Throughout the Book of Acts we have seen the apostle Paul preach to the Jews. In any new city he makes a beeline for the synagogue on the sabbath day, and preaches Christ to them. Well, in Acts 17 we find the apostle Paul preaching to an august body of leaders in Athens. Now, how will he handle himself? How will he speak to them? There are only two messages of Paul recorded in Acts which were addressed to Gentiles. The first is in Acts 14, and is addressed to the simple heathen. The other is here addressed to the intellectual heathen. In both places, Paul departs from his practice of quoting the OT Scriptures when speaking to the Jews. In this place, he actually quotes a couple of their own poets in illustrating divine truth. In this instance, he fastens upon an altar he had seen recently with an interesting inscription, “To the unknown god.” Evidently, if there were any other gods that they weren’t aware of, they didn’t want to offend them, and so made an altar to it as well. And so Paul comes along and says, “You’ve got hundreds and hundreds of gods. But this God that you don’t know – that’s the One I want to tell you about.” What Paul is going to do is introduce these intellectuals to the one true God. So, how does he describe him? He does so by telling them eight great truths about God. Notice that Paul’s main burden in this message is the foolishness and wickedness of their idolatry. He mentions it in vs.23 and in vs.29, making idolatry the two bookends of his message. So Paul is going to contrast the one true God with the idols of man.
Let’s look at those eight great truths about God, and then how Paul applies his message to his hearers.
- God is Creator: 17:24. “He made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth.” This One True God made everything, including the heavens and earth. The Epicureans are wrong in believing the world is just a chance combination of matter and time. The Stoics are wrong in believing that God is everything and everything is God. No. He is distinct from His creation. He is above His creation. There was a time when He existed apart from His creation. No, matter is not eternal. You’re not God. God is God, and He made everything including you. Nor is the Mormon doctrine true, that God is a perfected man who was once a creature like us and kept getting better and better. No, God is not, nor ever has been a creature. He is the Creator of all things.
And how did He create? He did it apart from any pre-existing materials. He spoke all things into existence. Think of every kind of tree, bush, shrub, flower, and grass. Think of every kind of reptile, mammal, bird, and fish. Then consider all the kinds of people on the earth. God made all of that. Then consider the starry heavens, which are so vast that we can’t comprehend it. The earth rotates once every 24 hours while orbiting the sun every 365 days, which has a surface temperature of 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The solar system is spinning, flying through space at 134 miles per second (482,400 mph). It is part of a collection of stars called the Milk Way Galaxy, which has perhaps 200 billion stars, 6 billion of which have planetary systems like ours. The Milky Way is one of over 125 billion galaxies that make up the visible universe! It would take 8 light minutes to travel from the earth to the sun. It would take 4.2 light years to reach the next closest star. And it would take 2.6 million light years to reach the next closest galaxy (Andromeda Galaxy). And remember, there are 125 billion galaxies; this is just the closest one to the earth!! Do you start to get the idea that God is very, very powerful? He is Creator.
- He Is Lord: 17:24 “He is Lord of heaven and earth.” Lord means that God is the undisputed supreme ruler of this world. He not only made the world, but He rules over it. He decides what will take place in it. He determines what is right and what is wrong. He as Lord calls all the shots. He owns this universe, because he made it. He is answerable and accountable to no one.
- He Is Omnipresent: 17:24. The Only True God can not be limited or localized to some man made shrine or temple built by man! Since God created the universe, he can’t be contained by it, let alone be contained in some temple! He is bigger than it, and outside of it. It is always a mistake to think of God in terms of space and time. This was the mistake of the Jews, in thinking that God was contained within their tabernacle or temple. This is what Stephen said before the Sanhedrin in Acts 7:48-50, “The Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is the footstool of My feet; what kind of house will You build for Me?’ says the Lord, ‘Or what place is there for My repose? Was it not My hands which made all these things?”
- He Is All-Sufficient: 17:25 “Nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things”. This One True God doesn’t need anything, including us. He has no needs. Instead He is the Supreme Giver. He is like an ever-flowing fountain, slaking the thirst of multitudes of people. Everything we have has come as a gift from this God. Every beat of our hearts, every breath we take, every moment we live and are not destroyed are a gift from this God. That’s why God’s creation of man was not because he was lonely and needed companionship. He already had all the companionship he could ever need in Himself – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That’s why salvation can never be of works. God is the Giver, not the Taker. Romans 11:35 says, “who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?” God is never a debtor to any man. He is never under any obligation to save any man. That is why our salvation is a gift of sovereign grace – because He Is All-Sufficient. We never give God something He wants or needs in exchange for salvation. Salvation is the product of His overflowing goodness and grace.
- He Is Sovereign: 17:26 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.” He determined to create all men from one man. He determined which nations would come into existence, where they would live, and when they would live. He determines the rise and fall of earthly empires: Assyrian, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek and Roman empires. Now this declaration of the sovereignty of God would strike right at the heart of the Athenians’ pride. They viewed themselves as self-made men. They thought they were special and unique, sort of a super-race, not too unlike the Nazis in the 1930’s. They viewed the uncultured and illiterate barbarians as inferior. But Paul says that the truth is that they hadn’t made themselves what they were. They were what they were because God decided it would be. God had appointed them as a nation at that time and place in history. God is sovereign over history, because history is His Story.
- He Is Near: 17:27-28 “that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children”. Paul is telling them that God is accessible. Yes, it is true that He is so majestic that He created this entire universe. But at the same time, He is near enough for any of us to have an intimate relationship with. In other words, He is knowable. He’s not so far and distant that you can never know Him. Ps.145:18 says, “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.” And to point out this truth, Paul quotes two of their own poets, Epimenides and Aratas. Paul is saying that God is so close that we live, move and have our being in Him. Now, Paul did not quote “For we are indeed His offspring” to prove that all men are God’s children. I hear that all the time, “Well you know that everyone is God’s child.” There is a sense in which that is true. All men are God’s children by virtue of creation; but only believers are God’s children by virtue of redemption.
- He Is Living: 17:29 “Being, then the children of God, we ought not think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.” Paul’s point here is that God is not like their idols, made by man, out of gold or silver or stone. Those things are inert and dead. God, on the other hand, is very much alive! In 1Thess.1:9 Paul said, “you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” These idols are dead and false gods. He is the living and true God. Because He is alive, you can know Him, and have a saving relationship with Him.
- He Is Judge: 17:30-31, “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” Let’s dig a little deeper into this truth.
Who will be the Judge? Jesus Christ! Jesus said in John 5:22, “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.” The same one that died for our sins will be the One who will judge sin at His second coming.
When will Jesus judge? On a fixed day. He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world. Noticed that this day is fixed. God has set it and nothing that you or I or anyone else does can change it. Just as God fixed the day He would send the flood to destroy the world, so too God has fixed the day in which He will judge the world and assign all men their eternal destinies. We are all speeding towards this day. The wise man will make preparation for this day!
Who will Jesus judge? The world. All human beings from Adam to the last generation on earth when Christ returns. All will be judged.
How will Jesus judge? In righteousness. That means it will be done according to strict justice. Revelation 20:12-15 tells us that the books will be opened. I believe these books are the books in which all of our deeds are recorded. God will review our lives. It will be dramatically shown that all men have sinned and are therefore deserving of judgment. But then another book will be opened, the Book of Life. Since all of us are doomed by our deeds, this other book will be our only hope of escaping eternal judgment. This book records the names of all who are followers of Jesus.
Who will be saved when Jesus judges? Only those that repent. That’s why Paul says, “God is now declaring (commanding) to men that all people everywhere should repent.” God is offering mercy to all those who unconditionally surrender to Him and embrace Him by faith. So, just what is repentance? It means “to turn” or “to change one’s mind.” We might define it as “a profound change of mind that affects the entire direction of your life.” It involves your mind, emotions, and will.
Conclusion
So, what was the result of this message? How did Paul’s hearers respond?
- Some Sneered: they mocked Paul. They tried to belittle him and put him down. They probably saw themselves as far superior to Paul intellectually and philosophically. Paul’s message about a crucified Jew seemed crude and beneath them. They just sneered. There are multitudes of people who do the same today.
- Some Procrastinated: some did nothing. They said they would hear him again, at another time. They were not ready to do anything with his message. There are multitudes who do this as well. They will not publicly embrace Jesus Christ in baptism and submit their lives to Him. But they keep coming back to church to hear the gospel again and again. They just procrastinate.
- Some Believed: Apparently this was the minority. Dionysius, Damaris and some others became Christians. They began to follow Jesus from this day onward, and thus the church at Athens was born. Dionysius was a member of the Aeropagas Council of Elders, a very prominent person in Athens. Church tradition says that Dionysius became the pastor of the believers there in Athens.
Learn From Paul. With Gentiles, Paul did not quote the Old Testament. He quoted their poets. He sought to relate to and identify with his audience as much as he could. Yet, He was also bold and spoke the truth. There is no indecision or timidness in Paul. He preaches dogmatically of these truths about God. Paul knows the truth, and does not mince words. We should do the same. We live in an age in which we are told that truth is relative. Everyone has their own truth. We can’t be dogmatic. We can’t speak of absolute truth. I beg to differ. If we know the truth of God’s Word, let’s speak it confidently and boldly, and then let the Holy Spirit do with it as He wills. At the same time, let’s seek to understand the person we are talking to and speak in a way that He can relate with. That’s the kind of person God will use.
Make sure you are prepared to face Christ on Judgment Day! Have you truly repented? Have you surrendered your life to Him? Are you following Jesus closely day by day? This is the only way to be prepared for that day that He has fixed. Let’s pray.
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